Few days back we had been contacting a no. of property
dealers, wandering in sun, tanning our skins, looking for a flat. Now when we
got a shelter to stay and a home to enjoy and of course to pursue our studies,
it takes me with awe while recalling the days full of anguish and the times when
we were going through ordeal.
Thanks to wonderful Tiffin facility and crowdie ambience at
Mukherjeenagar which made three of us, college mates and UPSC aspirants, look
for a common flat in quest for comfort, good food, freedom and peace. Our
target was to find a house where right to privacy of every occupant can be
realised and moreover a house which is spacious with good ambience.
As we had earlier experience while searching for rooms in
the beginning, we knew, it was never easy to find the house for rent in Delhi
and it becomes even more difficult for students to find houses with their
pockets already low in money power. Gone are days when affording a house was
easy and cheap. In the era of population explosion and real estate sector boom
willing for an easy and cheap accommodation has remained merely a nightmare. Due to exponential rise in population and
shortage of land to be accommodated price rise for the land and housing
facilities is inevitable. Further cartelisation by property dealers has only
added salt to the wounds especially to the students who unlike others cannot
afford the houses with usurious prices.
Flat hunting was not pleasant for the trio. We three friends
have been together since college days, belonging to U.P., Bihar and Jharkhand
respectively. While looking for the houses, be it dealers or house owners were
interested in knowing which place we belong to? Few of them were hesitant to
offer their houses for renting just because one of us was from Bihar and
another from Jharkhand, erstwhile Bihar. Few of the dealers even suggested us
to conceal our real identity in order to fetch a house.
Though the state Bihar has always been in news for notorious
reasons and a topic of debate for its backwardness and illiteracy, in recent
years it has shown tremendous growth in terms of literacy rate and economic
growth. For the time being lets suppose people are not aware of the growth
stories of Bihar in recent years, however, students from Bihar thronging IITs
and UPSC final list had many times hogged the headlines in news daily. Ok let
us leave everything, be it growth stories of Bihar or proven competence by
students of this state in competitive examinations, we three wanted just an
accommodation for our studies but the house owners were investigating as if we
were planning any terrorist activity.
Even after 8-10 days of drudgery when we could not find the
house. At last one of my friends seemed to the beacon of hope and believe me
she has been of great help to us. Without her help it couldn’t have been
possible to find the house of our choice. Right from arranging the contact
details of dealers to finalizing the house, she was involved. In the end a
house drew our attention; spacious, ground floor, beautiful park view however a
bit older. Shabby walls and dirty floor were initially a deterrent. The flat
desperately needs a whitewash and cleaning once before it becomes worth staying
there. Frankly speaking I did not like the house but amid constraints this flat
seemed to be the best choice to opt for and we chose it as well. By its
appearance it was quite sure that none has stayed there since months and
speculations of its being either haunted or with affected with any abnormality was
widespread among us, how lame! Good or bad be it, can only be judged once we
start staying there. Running short of time for our preparations, affording
another day or two for flat hunting is impossible. Hoping for a good stay there
with my friends, I wish the house be the memorable and we achieve our much
awaited and elusive goal there. All the best!
Though we got a house and I am sure of a wonderful and
pleasant stay there, I am left with sea of questions. Are we living in a
society where trust deficit is widening, suspicion is widespread and people
with xenophobia are conspicuous by their presence? It was quite surprising that
people keep primordial and regional identities before national identities. Is
the nation still in the building? Though media has indeed compelled people to
be islamophobic, whether they are STUDENTPHOBIC also? It is true that country has witnessed many
terrorist activities and many of them are performed by the people who had
disguised their identities. Notwithstanding that is it good to be overcautious,
isn’t it a blot to the national harmony and unity?
